Golden Eagle 2/15

Some of us Antelope Valley people have thrown together a last minute ride to Golden Eagle on Monday 2/15. We're meeting at the Hangar (minor league ballpark in Lancaster) at Ave. I and the 14 fwy at 9:00 a.m. and will be at the Sandberg trailhead at around 9:45. So if you were a good significant other today and don't have to work tomorrow (or are suddenly feeling lovesick) come on out and ride. Plan for a little snow and more mud but the weather will be great.

Great ride!
Little more snow and runoff than we expected. I suffered a bit on the way down. I think next time I'll wear body armor, but all in all it was a great first time up the mountain for me. Spectacular views and great trail conditions below the snow line.
Thanks to Maddog for the lift to Sandberg and for being a great trail guide!

fuzzy_math took a few pics. I didn't want to carry the extra weight of a camera.
The views were awesome. I took more time to look around this time than I had before.

Overall I had a lot of fun.
Both Maddog and fuzzy climbed the fireroad like goats while I was slacking along mostly out of sight to the rear. Maddog was fast enough going downhill that he was able to clear broken branches off to the side often before we caught up.

The lower portion of the fireroad wasn't bad. The upper part had sections of snow and melt.
Sections had to be walked and the snow tacked to the tires until it was scraping the fork arch and where the seatstays bridged. The mud was mostly on the fireroad around the melt near the top. It caked the tires occasionally and mixed with the icy snow remnants. We left off the last mile or two and grabbed the descent. Walking through the snow pushing the bike reminded me that I needed to slip some duct tape over the bolt cutouts inside my shoes. I don't think I got as much through the top of the shoes as fuzzy the mesh sections on the uppers are backed by nylon cloth maybe that helped compared to his.

We met one pickup headed down the fireroad where it was firm and dry and a Ford Ranger passed us near the top of the trip obviously mudding though the slush and puddles.

The singletrack was pretty clean. Only a couple puddles but quite a few smears of snow on the trail. There were a few small ruts but mostly only 2-3 inches wide/deep running the direction of the trail and could mostly be ignored. The brush was close and having done the trail back in November last year I brought armor. This was only the second or third time I'd used the new RaceFace stuff and it got a little scratched up mostly on the legs saving me from the brush. I decided to leave the full face and take the small helm and that was a pretty good choice up until the singletrack. I got smacked in the face with small branches / thorns 4 or 5 times. Got scratched once on the side everything else was pretty light. I could have used heavier gloves though.

I have to admit, most of the fun for me was on the singletrack going downhill. The last snowy sections of fireroad were a slog. When I caught up to the others near the start of the singletrack it looked like I dumped an icy full of gravel and sand on the tires, swingarm and chain. I need to work on being better on the climbs. It was a day that made you really enjoy some food afterward.

Good description by archer. The last mile or so of the fireroad had long stretches of snow which was a hassle. Not much was rideable. The top mile of singletrack on the north side had way too much snow to be rideable so we skipped that part. The south trail section was real good with some patches of snow. Most could be ridden through but some of the longer, deeper ones brought the wheels to a dead stop! The trail is very overgrown and needs a major trim. I'll plan a trail work day in March or April and post it here, Clip'd In and OTB to get some people out. The traction was incredible all the way down! That and the weather made the climb and snow/mud mess worth it. No pics from me either. I'll leave that to you high tech guys! Thanks to fuzzy and arch for a great ride!